Portable layover units

ABSTRACT

A portable rest facility or unit especially salted for public waiting rooms such as in railroad stations and air terminals, and comprising body-supporting lounge means movable from a tilted, non-usable position to a substantially horizontal usable position by an operating mechanism which is check controlled and which has suitable timing means for regulating the period of time that the body supporting lounge means remains in the usable position.

0 llnitetl @iflififi Patent 1 [111 3,711,878 George et all. 1 Jan. 23,1973 [54] PORTABLE LAYOVER UNITS 1,785,865 12 1930 House ..5/1473,517,397 6/1970 Moore ....5/147 [76] George Clark 2,564,762 8/1951Howard et a1 ..297/217 Avenue Dmmld 2120 1 542 766 6/1925 Hall ..5 133Wyoming Avenue, both of Billings, Mont. 59102 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 1 1Filed! J 1970 Gregory, Popular Science, June 1962. [21] Appl. No.: 4,715

Primary Examiner-Paul R. Gilliam Related U.S. Application DataAttorney-John J. Byrne [63] fgggtinuation-in-part of Ser. No. 651,160,July 5, [57] S C A portable rest facility or unit especially salted forU-S. CL waiting rooms such as in railroad stations and [51] Int. Cl...H47k 11/02, H47c 7/62 air terminals d i i g body-supporting lounge[58] Field of Search ..5/l59, 133, 147; 194/69; means movable from atilted, nomusable position to a 297/217 substantially horizontal usableposition by an operating mechanism which is check controlled and which[56] References cued has suitable timing means for regulating the periodof UNITED STATES PATENTS time that the body supporting lounge meansremains in the usable position. 2,326,183 8/1943 Urbanic ..5/622,628,371 2/1953 Null ..5/159 X 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures G rEyPATENTED JAN 23 I975 SHEET 1 0F 2 //vv/vr0/?s WARREN I GEORGE DONALD E.MASON ATTORNEYS CALL DESK mammmza Ian SHEET 2 0F 2 3.711.878

5 INVENTORS WA RRE/V r GEORGE DONALD E. MA SON ATTORNEY PORTABLE LAYOVERUNITS This application is a continuation in part of my copendingapplication Ser. No. 651,160, filed July 5, 1967, for Portable LayoverUnits.

This invention relates to a portable check controlled rest unit whichmay be suitably positioned in a waiting room of a transportationterminal or the like for use by a weary traveler who needs rest but doesnot have sufficient time to engage the services and accommodations ofthe usual hotel or motel lodgings.

In todays highly mobile society, the volume of travelers has increasedgreatly and the necessity of providing rest facilities at passengerterminals between rail, air and bus connections has increased to aconcomitant extent. For the most part, the length of waiting timeimposed upon the passenger between connections is only a few hours. Hisdemands, therefore, are only for simple and inexpensive accommodations.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a rest unithaving a body supporting lounge means which assumes a non-usableposition until certain control mechanisms are activated.

A further object is to provide a self-service rest unit which is checkoperated, as by coin, credit card, etc., and timer controlled serving toreduce the expenses of administration, registration and service normallyassociated with the rental of sleeping facilities.

Another object of this invention is to provide a rest unit as describedabove wherein an electrical alarm is provided and switch means areprovided to actuate the alarm in accordance with a signal from thetiming mechanism. The alarm may be in the form of an audible signal or avibrator or the like attached to the lounge means. Alternatively, thealarm may be actuated from a remote station such as a clerks desk orstation-master's desk in response to the request of the user of the restunit that he be aroused at a certain time not coincidental with the useperiod of the portable unit defined by the number of coins or the likeinserted in the coin control mechanism.

The portable rest unit of this invention comprises basically asupporting wall, a body supporting lounge means in the form of a chairor a bed or a similar structure. The lounge means is mounted forvertical movement at one end along the wall whereby the lounge means asa whole is movable from a substantially horizontal usable position to atilted non-usable position. Power means are provided on the wallformoving the lounge means from the horizontal usable position to thetilted non-usable position. The power means comprises a motor which isactuated in response to checkoperated electrical control means, andelevating means in the wall operably connected to and driven by themotor. Connecting means are provided for connecting one end of thelounge means to the elevating means whereby said lounge means moves tothe tilted position upon actuation of the motor means. The elevatingmeans may be in the form of an endless chain which is passed over drivensprockets. Alternatively, the elevating means may be a worm drive orscrew type member mounted for rotation about a vertical axis and beingprovided with suitable nut means connected to one end of the bed wherebythe worm means may be driven by the motor causing vertical movement ofthe nut means and the one end of the lounge member.

In one embodiment of the invention a suitable housing is provided forthe lounge means having an opening therein and a door for closing theopening. The movement of the housing from place to place is facilitatedby the placement of wheels or roller bearings or the like on the bottomedges of the housing. The door is mounted for sliding movement in atrackway and suitable lock means are provided for preventing the doorfrom assuming a closed position when the lounge member is in the tiltednon-usable position.

Another embodiment of the invention employs a non-enclosed lounge meanswhich may be a chair or a bed or the like which is mounted at one end ona vertical upstanding wall having the power means referred to earlieralong with the associated control means and elevating means for movingthe lounge member from a horizontal position to a tilted position.

In the embodiment having the housing, a plurality of units may beintegrally joined together making use of common walls. In the secondembodiment, a plurality of lounge members and power means may be positioned at suitable points along a portable upstanding vertical wallseparated by a partition wall for purposes of privacy.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent tothose skilled in the art by reference to the following detaileddescription when viewed in light of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rest unit showing the lounge meansin tilted non-usable position;

FIG. 2 is a detailed sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic schematic of the control circuitry;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of this inventionshowing the lounge means in their horizontal usable position; and

FIG. 5 is a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 4 showing the loungemeans in the tilted, non-usable position.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals indicate like parts,the numeral 10 indicates the preferred embodiment of the portable restunit of this invention. The unit 10 is generally comprised of a rearwall 12, end walls 14 and 14 and front walls 16 and 17 secured togetherto form a housing. The housing is supported on a plurality of casters 18for ease of transport. The casters are provided with means (not shown)to lock them against movement once the unit 10 has been emplaced.Suitable brackets 15 are provided on the rear wall 12 in order to affixthe unit to a building wall when desired. Within the housing andperpendicular to the rear wall 12 is a partition 20 dividing the restunit into two symmetrical compartments each having a greater widthnearest the partition 20.

An accordion roof 22 is provided over each compartment. The roof isslidable in tracks 23 in order to allow the occupant to select thedegree of privacy desired. Walls 16 and 17 are provided with accessopenings 19 and 19' which are adapted to be closed by folding type doors24 hung on rollers 25 from a track 27 above the access openings. Eachdoor has a biasing means such as a cord and weight assembly 21 forbiasing the doors to a normally open position. The doors, of course,allow entrance to and exit from their respective compartments and can belocked in the closed position on latch 26.

Within each compartment body-supporting lounge means in the form of abed 28 is supported at one end by swivelled rollers or casters 30. Theother end of the bed has projections 42 which are secured by a pair ofendless chains 32 separately mounted on upper and lower sprocket wheels.The upper sprocket wheels 34 are mounted on a common idler shaft whilethe lower sprocket wheels 35 are rigidly mounted on a driving shaft 36driven by a motor 38. The motor is itself rigidly secured to thepartition 20. Of course, the chains, sprockets and motor can be housedwithin the partition 20 in order to permit a more aesthetic appearancewithin the compartment.

In order to limit the downward movement of the bed, a limit switch 40 isprovided and upward movement is stopped by limit switch 41.

A projection 42 extends from the bed and normally supports a pivot arm44 when the bed is in its tilted or unusable position. The pivot arm 44is secured to a bar 46 which is pivotally mounted in the front wall 16just above the door 24. The bar at its other end has a downwardlyprojecting car 48 which, when the pivot arm is raised to the solid lineposition shown in FIG. 2, will engage a cam 49 on the door 24 to therebylock the door in the open position. The pivot arm will fall by gravityto the phantom line position shown in FIG. 2 when the bed is lowered. Asthe bed is lowered, lug 48 will disengage cam 49. Thus when the bed islowered, the door 24 will no longer be locked in the open position andthe door can be manually closed against its bias and locked from withinby the latch 26.

A control panel 50 on the partition 20 for controlling the electriccircuit is coin operated and includes a clock timer 52. When the propercoins are deposited in the control panel, the circuit will be closed byswitch 53 and the timer set for a predetermined period. Simultaneously,the motor 38 will be activated to lower the bed 28 until the limitswitch 40, interrupts the circuit to motor 38. After the timer runs theselected time, switch 55 drops and a vibrator motor 60 is activated tooscillate the bed and waken the occupant. After a suitable length ofvibration time, as determined by timer unit 57, the motor 38 isenergized to lift the bed to its inclined position. Although an audiblealarm could be used, the vibratory alarm is preferred since an audiblealarm would be disconcerting to adjoining occupants. The vibratormechanism can also be combined with a remote paging system wherein adeparture or call desk employee initiates the alarm system via a relay59. In this way, the occupant could rest secure knowing that he wouldnot miss his scheduled transportation.

In operation, the rest units may be manually rolled to a suitablelocation in a passenger terminal when and as desired. Because of theircompactness and because all of the components are secured within thehousing so as not to interfere with its mobility, the units are quicklyand easily emplaced.

With the timer 52 in the zero position, the bed 28 will be in theinclined position as shown in FIG. 1 and the door 24 will be locked inthe open position. When a traveler desires to occupy the compartment, hemerely enters it and deposits the requisite coins in the control panel50 to set the timer S2 for the desired period.

Upon deposit of the coins, the electrical circuit will be closed byswitch S3 and the motor 38 will be activated to lower the bed 28 to thehorizontal position until the limit switch 40 is contacted. Upondownward movement of the bed, the arm 44 will rotate the bar 46 andunlock the door so that the occupant may close and latch it. Theoccupant may then use the bed until the timer runs out. When the timedoes run out, the vibrator 60 is activated to awaken him and after asuitable time lag, the motor 38 is energized in the reverse direction toraise the bed to its inclined, unusable position. As the bed 28 reachesits inclined position, bar 46 will pivot to thereby lock the door in itsopen position.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.An upright wall 62 has two body-supporting lounges in the form ofcontoured chairs 64 and 66 attached thereto at one end for verticalmovement at said one end along said wall from a substantially horizontalposition as shown in FIG. 4 to a tilted non-usable position as shown inFIG. 5. Mounted on the wall are coin-control panels 68 which aresubstantially identical to the panels of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and2. The same power means including a sprocket and chain arrangement and amotor driving one of the sprockets is employed in the vertical wall foreach chair as shown. The motor is controlled by the timer means, controlcircuit and limit switches in the same manner as in the embodiment ofFIGS. 1 and 2. The same circuit of FIG. 3 is used with the embodiment ofFIGS. 4 and 5. The chain and sprockets are shown in phantom in FIG. 5and are indicated by the numerals 70 and 72 respectively. The chairsshown therein are connected to the chains by an extension 74 of the armsupports 76. Rollers 78 or other suitable anti-friction means areprovided at the foot of the chairs.

The operation of the rest unit of FIGS. 4 and 5 is substantiallyidentical to the operation of the units of FIGS. 1 and 2.

In place of the contoured chairs of FIGS. 4 and 5 chairs of a moreupright structure may be adapted to the supporting and operationmechanism. Further, single units with only one chair as opposed to themultiple units shown may be employed as desired. Similarly, theembodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 may consist of a single housing unit with asingle bed. The system is so designed that chairs and beds may beinterchangeably used with the different types of supporting andoperating mechanism.

Further, standard chairs and beds can be adapted for use in thecombination disclosed herein; that is, one would merely use suitableconnector means to attach one end of a standard bed or chair to theelevating means. Rollers or the like could be applied to the other end.Previously known coin operated chairs or the like involved complicatedmechanical construction of the chairs themselves.

We claim:

1. A portable rest unit comprising an upright supporting wall, a bodysupporting lounge means being vertically movable at one end along saidwall from a substantially horizontal usable position to a tiltednonusable position, power means on said wall for moving said loungemeans from said horizontal position to said tilted position, said powermeans comprising motor means, elevating means in said wall operablyconnected to and driven by said motor means, said elevating meanscomprising a sprocket and chain arrangement, said chain having avertical run on said wall and shaft means connecting said sprocket tosaid motor means, connecting means connecting said one end of saidlounge means to said chain whereby said lounge means is moved to saidtilted non-usable position upon actuation of said motor means,check-means-actuated timer controlled means for energizing said powermeans to move said lounge means to said horizontal position for apredetermined period of time, said timer controlled means maintainingsaid lounge in said horizontal position an amount of time proportionateto the value of said check means, an electrical alarm, switch means foractuating said alarm in accordance with a signal from saidtimer-controlled means, a remote station, and call means at said stationfor overriding said time-controlled means and actuating said alarm, saidtimer-controlled means including delay means for canceling the remainingtime in said timercontrolled means and actuating said power means inresponse to said call means.

2. A portable rest unit described in claim 1 wherein said alarm is avibrator attached to said lounge means.

3. A portable rest unit as defined in claim 1 and wherein said loungemeans is a chair.

4. A portable rest unit as defined in claim 1 and wherein said loungemeans is a bed.

1. A portable rest unit comprising an upright supporting wall, a bodysupporting lounge means being vertically movable at one end along saidwall from a substantially horizontal usable position to a tiltednon-usable position, power means on said wall for moving said loungemeans from said horizontal position to said tilted position, said powermeans comprising motor means, elevating means in said wall operablyconnected to and driven by said motor means, said elevating meanscomprising a sprocket and chain arrangement, said chain having avertical run on said wall and shaft means connecting said sprocket tosaid motor means, connecting means connecting said one end of saidlounge means to said chain whereby said lounge means is moved to saidtilted nonusable position upon actuation of said motor means,check-meansactuated timer controlled means for energizing said powermeans to move said lounge means to said horizontal position for apredetermined period of time, said timer controlled means maintainingsaid lounge in said horizontal position an amount of time proportionateto the value of said check means, an electrical alarm, switch means foractuating said alarm in accordance with a signal from saidtimer-controlled means, a remote station, and call means at said stationfor overriding said time-controlled means and actuating said alarm, saidtimercontrolled means including delay means for canceling the remainingtime in said timer-controlled means and actuating said power means inresponse to said call means.
 2. A portable rest unit described in claim1 wherein said alarm is a vibrator attached to said lounge means.
 3. Aportable rest unit as defined in claim 1 and wherein said lounge meansis a chair.
 4. A portable rest unit as defined in claim 1 and whereinsaid lounge means is a bed.